Zeitungskrähe
by Fonzi the Survivalist
Summary: A short story about rivalry, friendship and maybe something more between the two crow tengu reporters. The name is a play on the German term "Zeitungsente" - lit. "newspaper duck", derived from the abbreviation NT (Non Testatur), used to describe unconfirmed rumors published in newspapers. But since the story revolves around two crow tengu, I replaced "Ente" with "Krähe"
1. A Suspicious Headline

Chapter 1 – A Suspicious Headline

It's been more than a thousand years. More time than that has passed since she moved here and started a new chapter in her life. Here, in Gensokyo, where reality and illusion were two sides of the same coin; where everything was believed to be possible. And even though a thousand years may seem like more than enough time to forget everything to a human, she still remembered that time vividly. Perhaps because she wasn't a human, but certain events can leave such a lasting imprint on one's mind, that even if humans had the lifespans of the tengu, they'd be able to recall them with as much clarity as she recalled the day of settling down in Gensokyo.

"Heh… how nostalgic." Aya Shameimaru sighed as she flipped through the pages filled with her faded handwriting. Pages of a thousand-year old diary.

"Time sure flies…" Back in that time she had no idea what her job in this fascinating new place would be. Now that she looked at her past self through her own diary entries, she couldn't hold back a smile, because in a sense, her first job in Gensokyo wasn't that much different than what she was doing now. Before the era of journalism as we know it today, information was mostly delivered verbally, be it by travelling merchants, pilgrims, monks, tavern patrons, barkeeps, or town criers. The tengu society was no different in that regard, although unlike the humans, they hand one major advantage. They had their own writing system long before Japan adopted its kanji system from the Chinese characters. Eventually the tengu also took that system as their own, so that they could better understand the humans and gather valuable intelligence about their settlements, trade routes, army strength and a plethora of other things that helped the tengu survive in this beautiful, but hostile land, and the countless attempts of humans to hunt down and exterminate every youkai. Many books were written in the "tengu language" during that time, although calling it that would be a misconception. The tengu spoke no different words than the humans; they simply had their own, unique way of writing them. But not every tengu was literate back then. Only the nobles and the wealthy could afford to study at the few tengu schools that existed in Yamato at that time. The Shameimaru family didn't belong to either of the two social castes. Even though nowadays, the crow tengu are viewed as the elite of tengu scouts and spies, and the knowledge of written word comes to them as naturally as breathing, things weren't the same one thousand years ago. Whereas today it's an obligation for every tengu, especially the crow tengu, to be able to read and write, back then it was a privilege for a select few. But Aya never viewed her illiteracy as an obstacle in her job that kick-started her career. She was a crier for the tengu village situated high in the treetops of the Youkai Mountain. Every time Lord Tenma had something important to announce to the tengu villagers, Aya would fly from house to house, repeating the message with her energetic young voice until every family heard the announcement.

It wasn't exactly every tengu girl's dream job, but Aya enjoyed it, because she loved flying. The wind blowing through her hair and caressing her skin, the magnificent view she could get whenever she soared up over the mountain's treetops… But that was only one reason of many, why the job of a village crier was right up Aya's alley. She was very outgoing ever since her childhood and that trait remained a defining part of her character to the present day. She made friends everywhere she went, and there were always so many places to go in Gensokyo, so many interesting people and youkai to meet… Unlike he rest of Japan, the humans here were used to the youkai, and they became used to the ever-curious Aya as well.

As years passed, the lively black-haired tengu girl finally learned to read and write, and she started keeping a diary. Even then she never ceased to lose her interest in traveling around Gensokyo and discussing all the latest happenings with all sorts of Gensokyo's denizens. Every moment that she had free time on her hands, she used to fly around in search of interesting stories. She figured that the tengu of the mountain had much to learn about other groups, races and communities in Gensokyo. The other tengu weren't as adventurous, so that put Aya in an enviable position. Even if she had never sat at a school desk in her life, her experience gave her the knowledge and wisdom that no amount of books and studying would. Despite all that, Aya never bothered to think about how she could turn her rare knowledge and her genuine passion into something beneficial for her fellow tengu. So, she continued working as a crier and over the course of her life, tried several other jobs, which she wouldn't even consider worthy of mentioning.

Fast-forward several centuries to the time when the Great Hakurei Border was already forming an invisible protective circle around Gensokyo, and Aya would stumble upon something that would revolutionize the way stories could be told.

The Hakurei Shrine used to be one of her favorite places to stop and chat with the resident family of priests and shrine maidens. It was already known to be one of the few places in Gensokyo where the boundary was the weakest, so the Hakurei family would often find unusual "gifts" from the outside world lying around their shrine yard.

Aya would never forget that fateful day, when the shrine maiden showed her that strange little black-silver box that she found while sweeping. It had one eye, a button and a cog-like wheel on top that would adjust the "pupil" of its glassy eye. Truly, Aya had never seen anything so strange in her entire life, and like the shrine maiden, she had no idea what it could be used for. However, she had a friend who could give her some insight about the strange object.

And that's how Aya learned about photography and the device capable of painting pictures with the power of light – the camera.

She was fascinated. She was willing to spend all her savings just so she could get her hands on a working camera that would make full-color pictures and enable her to keep the tengu village in touch with all the recent events in Gensokyo, even without words. Aya's friend spent many hours in her workshop just trying to understand the camera's purpose, and she would spend even more hours modifying it to Aya's specifications. But her hard work and Aya's investment have paid off to both of them. The day when Nitori Kawashiro handed her the finished product, was certainly one of the happiest and most exciting days in Aya's life.

It wasn't long before her photographs started appearing and circulating among the other tengu. She became known as "the girl who could capture time". The tengu village already had several newspaper publishers, but none of them could do what Aya's magic box could.

Aya made a life-changing decision to start publishing her own newspaper before the kappa would make the photography technology available to the rest of Gensokyo. She named it Bunbunmaru, and it was the first newspaper with real photographs complementing the articles. She was still small-time among the rival journalists, and her newspaper didn't come out regularly, but she became recognized, mainly because she was the first to start selling her newspaper outside the tengu village.

That's how Aya ended up where she was today, doing something she was dedicated to, and what she was determined to keep doing for as long as she'd have the energy to fly, write and gossip. And she seemed to have an infinite source of energy for those things.

* * *

"This really brought back some nice memories." Aya smiled as she closed her very first diary shut. "I should clean up the archive room more often."

She put it carefully back into the small wooden box that protected it from harmful elements and kept it preserved for all those centuries.

"Okay, that's enough reminiscing for the day."

She walked up to the door of the windowless room, flicked the light switch off and left the archive rest in the darkness. After spending a couple of hours cleaning the place up, her eyes longed to see some daylight. She walked up to the window of her study and opened it wide to let even more light in, as well as a wave of fresh mountain air. The cool breeze softly tickled her face as she took a nice deep breath in. She was greeted by a spectacle of bright, fiery colors that the trees always wore in this season. Even her own aralia was dressed in the same beautiful colors as the rest of the trees in the forest.

Aralia was a long time considered as the sacred tree of the tengu, appearing in their legends, songs, as a symbol on their soldiers' shields, as well as serving as a support for their wonderful architecture that could be defined as "being one with the nature".

A gentle gust of wind swept by Aya's house, sending few of her home tree's leaves into her study through the window, like letters announcing that winter was just around the corner. Aya knelt down slowly and picked up the golden leaves from the floor, briefly studying one before taking them to the window and allowing the wind to pick them up again.

"It's been a while since my last big scoop." she muttered to herself thoughtfully. "Either I'm stuck in a rut, or there's simply nothing interesting going on in Gensokyo lately."

Such was Aya's ruling, but the autumn wind soon proved her wrong. By an odd stroke of luck, or misfortune, depending on the viewpoint, the ever-changing wind picked up a newspaper from one of Aya's neighbors' terraces and sent it flying right into the unsuspecting Aya's face.

"Ayayaya~! Something latched onto my face!"

When she peeled the paper off her face and took a look at it, she immediately noticed the familiar font that the newspaper's name was printed in.

It read: "Kakashi Spirit News".

Just reading them name made Aya snort out of contempt. The newspaper's publisher and reporter was one of Aya's rivals, Hatate Himekaidou. A crow tengu like her, but Hatate's articles and even her information-gathering methods were as different from Aya's as day and night. While Aya was always out in the field, in her search for the next scoop, Hatate relied solely on her ability of capturing and analyzing the so-called "spirit photography", earning her a nickname "armchair reporter" among her rival journalists. Her articles dealt exclusively with events from the past, and she rarely stepped out of her office to do interviews. Even after she gathered the courage to embrace the more investigative form of journalism to keep up with the competition, Aya never really considered Kakashi Spirit News as a serious competitor to Bunbunmaru.

Even when Aya's articles were far from what one would expect from a professional, full of bias and sensationalistic half-truths, according to some residents of Gensokyo, she still thought of her own newspaper as superior to the "news of the yesterday" that was the Kakashi Spirit News.

Aya let out a chuckle as she glanced at the front page, but her grin faded a little when she noticed its date of print, which was quite recent. Aya hadn't published a new issue for months, since she had nothing interesting to write about. That's why she felt a little envious after seeing that Hatate still had something to put in the paper, even when nothing noteworthy was taking place in the land of illusion.

As expected, the front page headline "A new shrine appears in Gensokyo" was referring to an event from the past, as all of Hatate's articles. After all, the Moriya Shrine had already celebrated several anniversaries of being transported to Gensokyo, and despite its resident goddess getting off on the wrong foot with the rest of the mountain, even going so far as to ask Reimu Hakurei to close her shrine down, Aya has been getting along with the shrine's residents more than well. There was hardly anything she didn't know about them, and she doubted that Hatate's article contained any information that she hadn't already known.

She was about to roll the newspaper up and throw it away, but her curiosity took over. She at least wanted to skim through the article to have an idea what Hatate's opinion of the Moriya Shrine residents was.

As her eyes raced across the columns of text, she quickly, and with no small amount of surprise, learned that the article was not referring to the spiriting away of the Moriya Shrine into Gensokyo at all.

"With the construction work completed, the smallest shrine in Gensokyo is ready to welcome visitors and their offerings, if they get get lucky enough to find it in the dense woods at the foot of the Youkai Mountain. Few attended its opening ceremony, however, and with no official priest or even a shrine maiden to maintain it, the future of Kagiyama Shrine is uncertain at best..."

"Wait a minute. Kagiyama Shrine? It can't be…" Aya blinked at the front page, as if what she just read was merely an optical illusion. "I've never even heard of planning for its construction, and here she claims that it's finished? Right under my nose, no less."

For Aya it was unthinkable to even imagine Hatate besting her in obtaining first-hand information of any event and writing an article about it before Aya even heard of the said event. Aya's surprise quickly turned into suspicion. The whole thing stank, and the blurry photograph of a shrine in the middle of a forest wasn't making it any more believable.

"It's not like her to write articles about recent events." the journalist of Bunbunmaru bit her lower lip. Though as she thought about the few encounters with her, she couldn't help, but to realize that Hatate actually does have a reason to change her ways.

After all, it was none other than Aya Shameimaru, whom she viewed as a rival. A rival, who she grudgingly had to admit to be more successful than Kakashi Spirit News. The only way to keep up with Bunbunmaru, was to observe and adapt its reporter's methods. This resulted in their not too friendly confrontation, which escalated into a danmaku battle to prove once and for all which one of them is the better reporter.

And even if Aya won that duel, she inspired Hatate to try even harder and become an even better journalist.

"Maybe it's my own fault that she's turning into a serious competitor." Aya mumbled to herself, folding the newspaper in half and putting it on her desk. She felt almost flattered that she inspired Hatate to do her best, but for her less experienced rival to get a hold of such exclusive information, when nary a rumor of it has reached Aya's ears, was starting to sting her ego.

"That's it." Aya made a decision. "I need to see it with my own eyes."

She opened a drawer of her desk and took three of her most commonly used items: a notepad, her camera, and her leaf fan. Not that she had planned to make an article about the same shrine; it was simply her firm habit. She never left home without the tools of her trade no matter where she went. She tied her stylish autumn-themed scarf around her neck and put her favorite pair of tall geta shoes on her feet. She was ready to head out.

Even though the article she just read didn't specify the new shrine's exact location, Aya was confident that she'd be able to find it after a bit of exploring around the foot of her home mountain.

"And off I go~." she announced her departure to her home and kicked off into the air.

* * *

She didn't hurry. On the contrary, she flew leisurely, taking in the beauty of the scenery below her. A few of her fellow villagers, waved at her from the central square of the village, if one could call it as such. Aya smiled and waved back, still deciding which side of the mountain she should explore first.

"Aya-chan, good morning~!" a child's voice belonging to her neighbor's daughter greeted her as a dark-haired girl with two short pigtails peered out of the window. She a young, energetic child, not even 50 years old. Despite the age difference, she loved to play with Aya and pose in front of her camera, once acting as an intrepid adventurer, other times as a famous musician and having make-believe interviews. Even now, her question for Aya was: "Are we going to play today~?"

"Good morning, Kaede." Aya greeted her back. "Maybe later."

"Okay~. But this time I wanna be the reporter." the little tengu girl clapped excitedly.

"A reporter, huh?" Aya muttered under her breath as she flew onwards. "Am I raising my new competitor here? Or perhaps a successor?" she chuckled at the notion.

She was now passing over the more respectable part of her village, where the beautiful, sprawling treetop palace, supported by a dozen of massive aralia trees stood proudly next to the luxurious residences of the tengu nobility. It was this part of the village that was home to Hatate Himekaidou.

"No wonder she used to be a shut-in." Aya thought to herself as she gazed upon Hatate's impressive house, made of rare wood, sporting several terraces, with ornamented railings and a roof covered with expensive tiles of highest quality. "Must be nice living in such an exquisite house."

She didn't even realize how long she's been admiring the Himekaidou residence, but it must have been quite a few minutes, since even its owner took notice of her presence.

"Are you planning to write an article about me, Aya-san?"

"Ayaya!" the absent-minded reporter jolted out of surprise as she turned around. There before her hovered the brown-haired, brown-eyed crow tengu girl, wearing her light pinkish shirt with purple collar hem, a black tie and a checkered black-purple skirt. A small patch of her bare legs was visible in the gap between the said skirt and the pair of black thigh-high socks, rolled down to just below her knees. Like Aya, she also wore geta, but hers were pale purple with brighter purple straps. Her long pigtails on both sides of her head and tied by a pair of purple ribbons were swaying in the wind. Purple has always been the color of nobility in the tengu society. It was no wonder, that even her tokin, the traditional tengu headwear was of this color, unlike Aya's red.

"Ah, good morning, Hatate. I was just passing over your house."

"Yes, in circles for 3 minutes." Hatate nodded, not holding her sarcastic tone back. "And with a camera in hand."

"I always have my camera at the ready. That's a part of being a good reporter, you know."

"Hmm, I wonder… A good reporter or a peeping Tom?"

"Anyway, it's pretty unusual to see you outside." Aya changed the subject just as quickly and suddenly as the wind changes direction. "At this early hour, no less."

"Well, I WAS inside until I noticed a nosy crow flying past my window repeatedly. And just as you find it unusual to see me up and about so early, it's equally unusual for me to see you so spaced-out."

Aya had to admit that as far as journalist ethics go, she got a little carried away.

"If you must know, I was admiring the exterior of your house before heading out of the village."

Hatate smirked at her excuse. "Is that so? \Well, I might even show you the interior, if you ask nicely, but my today's schedule is already full. I have some field work to do, which is another reason for me to be outside."

"What a coincidence. I'm on my way to do some field work myself." Aya replied. "But I have to say, you've changed a lot, Hatate. As a reporter, I mean. You publish more often, and include current events."

The twin-tailed journalist giggled amusedly. "My, my, does that make you feel uncomfortable, Aya-san? That I'm becoming more successful? That my newspaper is rivaling yours in the number of sold prints?"

"No." Aya shook her head lightly. "I wouldn't want it any other way."

"If there's one thing I've learned from you, Aya-san, it's that in order to be the best in your field, you have to study your competition and come up with ways to be better than them."

"In that case, you should work on your photography skills a bit. You may have the latest camera, but I could still make better photos with a sweet potato."

Even though Hatate's expression didn't change, her clenched left fist gave away her current emotion.

"Trivial details. If my readers can recognize what's in the picture, that's all that matters. Nobody cares how many leaves the tree in the background has."

"You see? That's the problem right there. Your readers can hardly tell what you've photographed. That's how sloppy your photos are." Aya continued to take cheap shots at her rival, but Hatate's tongue proved to be equally sharp.

"In my book, that's still better than not publishing anything at all."

Aya felt the sting of those words, but held her emotions under control.

"I'm still in the business, Hatate. In fact, I'm on my way to get my next big scoop." she lied.

"Oh? And what might that be?" the younger crow tengu tilted her head and smiled teasingly.

"Heh. Do you really think I'd tell you? Why don't you buy tomorrow's Bunbunmaru and see?"

Another amused giggle came from Hatate. "I can hardly wait."

At that point Aya had turned her back on Hatate and taken off. Her words might have sounded confident, but there was something about the way Hatate looked at her, the way she spoke, that made Aya feel that her rival knew exactly what situation she was in. Not only she didn't have anything noteworthy to write about, but by lying to Hatate, she had imposed a challenge on herself to publish a new issue by tomorrow.

"Guh… what was I thinking? I have no sensation to write about, unless I make one up. And I'm not going to stoop that low…"

She glided down along the mountain's steep slope, heading south, as that's where she thought the most likely place to find the new shrine would be. The embarrassment would be too much for her if she couldn't keep her word.

"There's no rule against writing articles about the same events as other newspapers." she muttered to herself as she was nearing the mountain's foot. "Might as well make an interview with Kagiyama-sama… something I did not see in that Kakashi Spirit article."

* * *

At the same time as Aya left the village, Hatate briefly watched her fly until she was a barely visible flake on the horizon. Then she turned around and flew the opposite direction. As she passed over the forest on the north-eastern side of the mountain, she was able to hear the distant roar that told her she was heading the right way. In a little while she was able to see the source of that roar. The Waterfall of the Nine Heavens, cascading from the Moriya Plateau and streaming through the mountain, forming a river that led all the way to Misty Lake. It was truly an impressive waterfall, and a popular hiding spot of water fairies. But aside from fairies, this was also one of the white wolf tengu guard posts. And that's why Hatate was headed there. Even her mind wasn't much at ease after her conversation with Aya, but for different reasons.

"Hmph… My photographs… sloppy? How can she say that? I spent a fortune on that new cellphone…"

After a moment, she noticed a familiar figure occupying her usual spot, a cliff next to the waterfall. There was a small wooden table with two chairs, only one of which was occupied. A shogi board was set up on the table, waiting to start a new game.

"Good morning, Momiji-san." Hatate bowed lightly as she landed next to the person.

Momiji Inubashiri, the short girl with short white hair, armed with a sword and shield nodded in response to her arrival. "Did everything go as planned?" she asked.

"I… think so." the crow tengu gave a bashful reply.

"So all you have to do is wait." Momiji said calmly.

"That's the worst part of it all." Hatate pouted as she sat on the other chair. "If she finds out the truth…" she bit her lip and left the sentence unfinished.

"Well, the idea might have been mine, but in the end it was your own deliberate decision. Nobody pushed you into it. Since you carried it through, you must have understood and accepted all possible risks. Besides, didn't you say you WANTED her to find out?"

Hatate sighed as she rested her troubled head on her palm. "I know… But what if the whole thing backfires?"

"You worry too much, Himekaidou-san." the white wolf tengu smiled faintly. "It's all like a game of daishogi. You need to play the right pieces at the right time. I'm quite confident in my planning capability, if I do have to say so myself. This is a win-win situation."

"I hope you're right."

"Now, care to join me for a game or two?" Momiji invited her visitor to play.

"Since I have nothing better to do…"


	2. In Search of a Curse Goddess

Chapter 2 - In Search of a Curse Goddess

Aya made it all the way down to the foot of the Youkai Mountain. From almost every side, the mountain was surrounded by dense forest, so even her sharp eyesight would be tested if she wanted to spot anything resembling a shrine in that area. She therefore decided to fly just a few meters above ground, slaloming past the trees, so that no detail would escape her. This, of course, slowed her down greatly, but it was only morning, and she believed that it wouldn't take her more than an hour to make a full lap around the whole mountain.

* * *

Half an hour has passed, and she had no luck so far. Slightly frustrated, she let out a sigh.

"Why do these shrines have to be built on either hard-to-reach or hard-to-find places?"

She wasn't ready to give up her search and continued scanning the forests. Besides the fairies and the local wildlife, she hasn't encountered anyone. That remained the case until she was certain that she already made a circle around the mountain.

"There has to be a better way…" she thought aloud.

The dried leaves rustled somewhere not too far away from her. She looked in that direction, but couldn't see anyone.

"Probably just some animal." she shrugged and resumed her flight. She decided to make another lap around the mountain, this time slightly further away. And as she moved deeper into the forest, her ears picked up someone's voice.

"Ah, someone's here. I wonder who…"

As she quietly approached the source of the voice, she quickly realized that it was actually two voices, albeit quite similar in sound. Both were female and young-sounding, but Aya could still not make out the words they were saying.

Finally, after a minute, she noticed two figures standing among the trees. Aya instantly recognized them by the color of their hair and clothes.

"Ah, good morning to you, Shizuha-san, Minoriko-san." she greeted them individually.

The two blonde girls looked startled at first, but quickly relaxed, when they realized who snuck up on them.

"Aya-san? Hello." the girl in a brightly colored dress that matched the colors of the autumn leaves returned the greeting.

The other girl, clad in a dark dress, a light-yellow blouse, a pinkish apron and a red hat decorated by a grape cluster followed suit. "Good morning, Aya-san. Are we going to be featured in the newspaper?

"Not unless you're up to anything interesting." the crow tengu replied flatly.

Being neither humans, nor youkai, these two blonde girls represented the deities of autumn. Minoriko and Shizuha Aki were siblings. The former being a harvest goddess and the latter governing the turning of leaves.

"We're doing our work as the goddesses of autumn. It is our season after all." Minoriko would think that someone like Aya wouldn't need an explanation of what autumn goddesses might be up to in this time of year, but it would seem the journalist was expecting something else.

"Going on about your yearly duties isn't exactly a scoop material."

"Duties?" the older sister tilted her head. "It's not like we're bound to bring autumn to Gensokyo, you know…"

"But if you decided not to, you could no longer call yourselves autumn goddesses, could you?"

"Well… that's true, but…" the goddess of turning leaves admitted with a lowered head. That's when her younger sister interjected.

"If you're not here to take pictures or do an interview, then why did you even bother talking to us in the first place?"

"I'm gathering information, you see…"

"We don't deal with information. Unless it has something to do with autumn, I doubt we can tell you anything gossip-worthy."

"I hope you're wrong about that." Aya said. "I wouldn't be asking you, if I was convinced that you couldn't tell me what I'd like to know. I mean, as goddesses, you surely know where I can find the recently-built Kagiyama Shrine."

Both deities of fall exchanged their quizzical gazes, before the older of the two sisters spoke: "Hina-san has a shrine?"

"Just because we're goddesses," Minoriko began explaining, "doesn't mean we know everything about every other god in Gensokyo."

"I haven't seen her in a while…" Shizuha muttered with a finger on her chin.

"Neither have I." her younger sister likewise denied having been in contact with the misfortune goddess. "As far as I know, she tends to wander all over Gensokyo. If she really has a shrine, it could be anywhere."

"My source claims it to be located somewhere at the foot of this very mountain." the journalist elaborated. Judging by the Akis' faces, however, she could already guess that they were just as clueless about the shrine's whereabouts as she was.

"Are you sure your source wasn't pulling a prank on you?" Although she wasn't aware of it, Shizuha's question was more valid than she would think.

Aya shrugged. "I wonder about that myself. That's what I'm trying to find out. It would be better to ask the curse goddess directly, but I already scouted the area around the mountain. No sign of Kagiyama-san or her shrine, though."

"I'm afraid we can't help you with that." the harvest goddess shook her head before averting her gaze from Aya. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."

"So do I." the tengu hastily scribbled down a few notes and bowed lightly to the Aki sisters. "Thank you for your time."

* * *

While back in flight, she plotted a course that led her further away from her home mountain.

By the river flowing from the mountain, there was a place called Genbu Ravine. A unique natural landmark that formed during one of the mountain's eruptions. Its 6-sided cliffs along with its hex-grid patterned rocky bottom looked almost artificial in comparison with the rest of the surrounding wilderness. Home to a community of aquatic youka known as the kappa, which were besides the tengu the only youkai species living in communities, Aya figured this would be a promising place for gathering information. A slew of straw and bamboo huts dotted the ravine and a complex system of pipes built into the hexagonal cliffs was making the place look even more unnatural.

A busy-looking bazaar stood at the edge of this small settlement, echoing with the chatter of dozens of kappa. A few tengu could be seen among the crowds of customers, easily recognized by their distinctive tokins. Aya wasn't about to interview just some random youkai in the crowd. She had one specific person in mind. She was looking for one specific kappa due to her being acquainted with the goddess Hina Kagiyama. This quirky, young female engineer had her own stand in the bazaar, where she offered her various gadgets for sale. At least those that weren't larger than the stand itself. The very same kappa who made Aya's camera, Nitori Kawashiro stood timidly at her stand, not luring customers by any means. Many still flocked to her regardless. Aya cut her way through the crowd until she stood face to face with Nitori.

"Excuse me, madam," one angry customer said to the crow tengu. "but the line ends over there." she pointed backwards with her thumb.

"Ah, but I'm not here to buy anything." Aya tried to clear up the misunderstanding. "Just dropped by to ask an old friend a question or two, and I'll be on my way."

The kappa's expression was almost blank, being partially apathetic, partially displeased by Aya's impertinence.

"Cutting in line is still rude, regardless of your intention to buy something or not. Not only to the customers, but to me as well."

"Hey, you're not the only one who's busy today."

"Then please make it quick. Every second I waste idly chatting with you, I could spend by making money instead."

Hearing her response, Aya covered her grin by her leaf fan. "My, your capitalistic spirit could even put Hakurei Reimu to shame…"

Nitori's reserved tone now gave way to an apparently annoyed one. "Get to the point already!"

"Right. So… Have you heard anything about Kaigyama Shrine?"

"No." Nitori responded instantaneously. Aya even had a feeling that she had that answer at the ready no matter what question would be given to her.

"There's an article about it in the Kakashi Spirit News. " the tengu elaborated.

The blue-haired kappa girl just muttered "I don't really read Kakashi…"

"Wise choice…" Aya let out a weak chuckle.

"Was there anything else?" Nitori asked her cross-armed, while impatiently tapping her foot against the ground.

"Yes… Um… If I wanted to see Hina-san, were would be the best place to look?"

Nitori fixed her aquamarine eyes with Aya's in a puzzled gaze mixed with suspicion.

"What's all this about Hina-san? Down on your luck?" She didn't wait for Aya to reply. "I don't know why you assume I know where to look for her… I'm not her shrine maiden."

"Maybe because I've often seen you with her?" the pointy-eared reporter tried to refresh her memory, with a teasing tone.

"We don't see each other that often, but… when we do, I usually meet her close by the river. I mean, that's where she collects all the nagashi-bina dolls to sell them again."

"Yes… Except that it's half a year too early for Hinamatsuri."

"Then your guess is as good as mine." the short kappa shrugged her shoulders. Maybe now that she has her own shrine, she's there."

"Gee… thanks. That helped a lot." Aya's eyes trailed off to scan the distant horizon as she uttered her sarcastic remark. "This whole thing about her shrine makes less sense the more I think about it."

"They why do you pursue that nonsense?"

"Because that's exactly what I think it is."

Nitori didn't quite comprehend her answer, but she didn't even care much in the first place. "Well, whatever. I told you what I could. You'll just have to keep looking."

Disappointed that even her old friend failed to provide her with the necessary information, Aya kicked off the ground to continue in her quest for the truth.

* * *

She continued her journey along the river, until she eventually ended up at the Misty Lake, with the silhouette of the Scarlet Devil Mansion ominously looming over the surface, on the island shrouded in a veil of dense fog. Needless to say, her search turned out fruitless.

"I doubt they will be any wiser…" Aya mumbled to herself in the same second, as the silly thought to interview the mansion's inhabitants crossed her mind. She kicked a small rock lying at the shore of the lake and watched it disappear in a small splash. "I can't be the only one around here who doesn't buy that article, can I?"

As she thought who else might have read the latest issue of Hatate's newspaper, a certain shrine maiden came to mind. Although she might not know anything about Hina's favorite hangout spots, her little shrine used to see a lot of visitors, albeit unwanted.

"Perhaps she could have heard a rumor or two…" the tengu journalist hummed, setting her sights over the cloud of mist at the tall hills in the east. "It never hurts to ask."

* * *

After a short, speedy flight, the stilts of Aya's geta sandals met the stone surface of the Hakurei Shrine's courtyard, making two quiet knocks. Since she didn't see the miko anywhere, she assumed she'd have more luck finding her inside the shrine. It was still rather early, so perhaps she was still sleeping. That didn't stop the investigative journalist from attempting to wake her up and doing an interview anyway. That was until she made her way to the shrine's entrance, where a piece of paper had been stuck on the sliding door.

The message in a hasted, sloppy handwriting, typical of the shrine's resident read: "Resolving an incident. Will return upon its resolution. Donations are still welcome." Signed: Hakurei Reimu.

Aya let out a frustrated sigh after reading the brief notice. "Haa… What a timing. Perhaps I should go and write an article about this incident… whatever that might be."

She brainstormed for ideas where to search and who to interview next, but without any solid leads, she felt like going on a wild goose chase. Though in her case, catching that wild goose would have been much easier a task than finding any clues confirming or denying the existence of Kagiyama Shrine.

"This is going to be a long day…"

* * *

And a long day it was. The stubborn crow tengu thoroughly searched the entirety of the forests surrounding the Youkai Mountain. Or at least that was her plan, but that thoroughness came at the cost of time. Even her incredible speed proved to be useless here. She barely covered one third of the vast woodlands by the time sun began to set.

"Oh, Gensokyo… You're so small, and yet so big. Why is it that sometimes I run into the same person every time I leave home, and other times, I can't find that person, no matter how hard I look?"

Aya gave her homeland a rhetorical question, as the shortness of the day made her reluctantly give up on her search and return to her village. Tired both physically and mentally, she began her return trip along the very same river that she already scoured today, hoping that perhaps now, she'd have better luck finding the curse goddess. But as it turned out, luck seemed to have all but abandoned the dark-haired tengu girl.

"It can't be helped. I've done what I could… But I ultimately lost my own bet." she was already mentally preparing to eat her own words and admit her rival's triumph.

She ascended the mountain along the cascading waterfalls eventually passing a guard post, where her acquaintance Momiji would sometimes be stationed when on duty.

Sure enough, the white wolf tengu girl was seated in her chair, holding a watchful vigil over this side of the mountain. She must have seen Aya coming long before she reached the guard post, as she showed next to no surprise when their eyes met.

The two of them never really got along too well, but at least they were willing to exchange a friendly, mutually-insulting banter every now and then. Aya had no grudges against Momiji. It was the white wolf who got easily annoyed by Aya's presence… and her personality, and her actions. Come to think of it, Aya's relationship with Momiji was quite similar to the one she had with Hatate, minus the rivalry.

"Keeping the intruders away again?" Aya nonchalantly uttered as she flew by.

Instead of giving her a witty reply, Momiji tossed back a witty question. "Back from nosing around already?"

Aya chuckled it off and was about to continue her ascent, when her curiosity took the reins and made her stop. "Say…" she suddenly turned around, "you've been here since morning, haven't you?"

"Hmph… I thought that after you made a habit of annoying me with your questions and random photo shoots, you'd figure out when a guard's shift begins and ends."

To Aya, that reply was merely Momiji's way of saying "yes". With the knowledge that Momiji, like all of her kind, had amazing eyesight, Aya figured that if she was on duty today, it was more than likely that she saw pretty much everything that transpired in Gensokyo, south of the mountain. Now the question was, whether she paid any attention to the details Aya was most curious about…

"Ah, good. Then you've seen where the Hakurei shrine maiden went, right?"

Momiji tilted her head at the question. She looked a bit puzzled, but also a bit… amused. "Oh? So the red-white was the one you were looking for? Is that why you were running around like a headless chicken before you got to her shrine at some point?"

"Uhhh…" Aya failed to hide her flustered expression from the eyes of the white wolf. "Well… not originally. She just came to mind as one of the persons to interview."

"You were all over Gensokyo today. You must have been investigating something big… or being desperate to find something interesting to write about."

"Heh…" the crow tengu barely knew that this young guard paid so much attention to her, even noticing such details. "Were you spying on me the whole day?"

"Guard duty can be awfully dull, you know." Momiji lazily muttered, adding a yawn for emphasis. "Watching your erratic journey proved to be somewhat amusing. And so much time spent in our closest forest. One can only wonder…"

Aya's cheeks were starting to redden like the leaves of some trees used to in this season.

"Hey, such is the work of a journalist. Not that I'd expect you to understand. I just want to know if you've seen where the shrine maiden went."

"Who knows?" the white wolf tengu shrugged, covering another yawn with her palm. "I wasn't really paying attention. She just flew from point A to point B. You, on the other hand, were much more intriguing to watch." she widened her already wry smirk. She had already made a point of having watched Aya's "amusing" journey for the better part of the day, but it was almost as if she was mocking her. Was that her way of paying Aya back for being a nuisance to her? Whatever the case was, Aya was more than certain that she had nothing helpful to tell her.

In retort, she just shook her head and said: "I'm so glad our sacred mountain is under the protection of such vigilant guards, who pay so much attention to irrelevant details, that they don't notice an incident taking place under their noses…"

"Spare me your sarcasm. The only incident that occurred today was that a certain crow tengu pestered half of Gensokyo, and it looks like I'm the next victim."

"As a matter of fact, there was a notice on the Hakurei Shrine's door, saying that Reimu-san had gone to resolve an incident."

"Is that right…?" Momiji asked in a tone that made it clear that she didn't care the slightest.

"See? Even the all-seeing stalker Inubashiri doesn't know what's going on."

"Gathering information is a crow tengu's job, as far as I know. Besides… if the incident in question was that serious or obvious, I'm sure I would have seen our local shrine maiden flying to the scene herself."

"Our local…" Aya's eyes widened as she left her sentence unfinished. She just got an idea, and even if it was getting a bit late, the urge to follow through with that idea was almost irresistible. "I'll chat with you later, Momiji. I still have one more interview to do today."

With renewed enthusiasm, she hopped off the cliff and soared up the mountain at a dizzying speed. On her way up, she began to wonder why she chose to beat around the bush and not ask Momiji about Hina and her alleged shrine instead. Still, she had a gut feeling that all her questions would be answered soon.

Momiji just smiled as she watched Aya disappear over the cliffs. "Looks like she picked up on that subtle hint. And so the cogs keep turning… So far… just as you wanted… Hatate."

* * *

With evening falling on Gensokyo, Aya kept ascending higher and higher, not stopping at the premises of her home village. Her goal stood even higher, where the coniferous trees reigned supreme with their ever green colors. Up there, on that mystical plateau, with a lake surrounded by tall onbashira pillars, stood the impressive structure of the Moriya Shrine. And even from afar, Aya could see its residents enjoying a peaceful evening on the porch.

"So close to home, yet the last place I thought I'd ask…" Aya quietly said to herself as she landed. She waved her hand at the three figures at the shrine, even if she was sure they saw her sooner.

"Aya-san? Good evening, or afternoon, hehe." the cheerful green-haired girl in a blue-white shrine-maiden outfit giggled as she greeted her. "It gets dark rather early in fall, so it gets confusing."

Her name was Sanae Kochiya. Gensokyo's second shrine maiden, who shared her living space with not just one, but two deities. Or, more precisely, they shared their living space with her. Both of them were relaxing on their porch, eating a treat typical of the season – baked sweet potatoes. It was almost hard to imagine these two goddesses were once bitter enemies. While they both acknowledged Aya's presence by light nodding, they chose to let Sanae do the talking, while they enjoyed their snacks. It's impolite to talk with one's mouth full, after all…

"Yes, good afternoon… I promise I won't bother you for too long." Aya reassured the shrine's residents. "I'm just here to ask a few questions, if I may."

"If you think I'm the one who can answer them, then by all means, go ahead." Sanae's bright smile encouraged her.

"I've been investigating one minor rumor, you see…"

"U-huh…" the miko listened attentively.

"Well, along the course of my interviews it occurred to me that the Hakurei shrine maiden might have some insight about the matter…"

"Yes…?"

"But as I arrived at her shrine today, there was a notice on her door about her being away, resolving an incident."

"An incident?" Sanae blinked in surprise after repeating the last bit of Aya's sentence.

"Yeah, that's what the notice said. But I've travelled almost everywhere around Gensokyo today, and I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. And by your reaction, I'm assuming you didn't notice anything strange either…"

"I didn't… Which is strange, because I've been told that in Gensokyo, the term "incident" was used solely for describing an event, caused by youkai, which has a negative effect on all of Gensokyo. You know… when something is obviously wrong…"

The rapid scribbling of Aya's pen on the paper inadvertently interrupted Sanae's train of thought.

"Well, Sanae-san, before you and your… ahem… company moved to Gensokyo, we had a couple of incidents that weren't so obvious. Some literally happened without me knowing about them, and I make a living of writing articles about such events. But then again, I'm not a shrine maiden, so I was wondering, if you, as a miko, have some sort of incident-warning system."

"Hehe… It's funny that you're asking that." Sanae giggled as she threw a tentative glace back over her shoulder.

"Funny? How so?"

"Well… my incident warning system is sitting right there." she inconspicuously tried to point her thumb at the pair of goddesses behind her.

"Oh?" Aya looked genuinely intrigued. "Which one of them?"

"Both, actually. Suwako-sama can sense the slightest irregularities in the earth, and Kanako-sama can tell whenever there's something foul in the air."

"Like that onion you burned to crisp yesterday…" Kanako, in spite of siting several meters away from the conversation, suddenly joined in to point out Sanae's recent cooking blunder.

"That certainly didn't take any divine powers to notice." the younger in appearance, but older in age Suwako remarked before taking another bite of her sweet potato. Needless to say, Sanae was all red with embarrassment. But it wasn't Sanae's failure that caught Aya's attention the most.

"That sounds like a pretty reliable system… If it won't bother you much to answer, Moriya-san, Yasaka-san… Do you feel anything out of place right now?"

Before either of the two goddesses could chew and swallow their food, Sanae replied in their stead: "If they did, I wouldn't be here sitting idly, while Reimu and her eccentric witch friend have all the fun, would I? I'd be exterminating youkai left and right~." She demonstratively swung her gohei in both directions and then jokingly tapped Aya's head with its end.

"I guess you do have a point." Aya still stood there in full-serious mode, scribbling notes. "So what do you think about Hakurei-san's message on the door?"

"Hmmm… Maybe she just went to resolve something small-time. Or something personal. I don't know. Maybe someone else stuck the note on her door as a prank while she wasn't looking."

"While it seems unlikely, it certainly isn't completely impossible. Well, thank you, Sanae-san. At least I can sleep peacefully tonight, knowing that I won't wake up shrouded in red mist, or in an unnatural winter… although, now would be about time for winter to start…"

"You're welcome~." Sanae bowed. "Was there anything else you wished to ask?"

"Actually, yes. Have you ever heard about Kagiyama-shrine?"

"Not until today, I haven't. I only read about it in the newspaper this morning."

"So you read the latest Kakashi Spirit News?"

Sanae paused to think before giving a neutral shrug. "It's possible. It was just a short article on the front page."

"There's no mistake then." Aya seriously doubted that any other newspaper in Gensokyo wrote an article about it. "We're talking about the very same shady article in the very same shady newspaper."

"You think it's a hoax?"

"Can you blame me? I mean, don't you find it strange? That a shrine nobody heard about suddenly appears out of the blue?"

"Well… considering how Kanako-sama had a hand in rebuilding the Palanquin Ship into what is now the Myouren Temple, basically overnight, back in 124, I wouldn't call it strange."

"I swear I had no hand in this one, though." Kanako informed the reporter.

Aya realized that Sanae had a point. In fact, she was aware of it all along. That awareness was the very reason she spent the whole day searching for the fabled shrine and the goddess it was attributed to, instead of simply closing herself in her study and writing up an article with a sweet-sounding headline that would call Hatate and her newspaper a liar. She simply lacked the proof.

"It would really help me if I found Hina-san herself and ask her what drove her to suddenly build herself a shrine."

"Now hold on there a second, Aya-san." the tall goddess suddenly interrupted her. "I see you're a bit misinformed on this matter, so allow me to clear one thing up."

For a moment, the black-haired tengu just stood there dumbfounded. "Yes?" she shyly let out of her lips?

"A god does not simply build a shrine for oneself."

"They can't?"

"Well, it's not they physically couldn't; it's simply against their nature."

"O-kay, I admit. I had no idea about that."

"The place of worship has to be built by the humans, who revere the god and believe in them enough that they build a monumental temple… Well, sometimes just a small, modest shrine, but that's not the point. The thing is, if a god built himself a shrine, that shrine would hold no spiritual meaning to the god whatsoever. In fact, it'd be quite arrogant and pitiful at the same time."

"Yes," the earth goddess Suwako finished her potato to put her 2 yen into the discussion, while wearing a forced pout, "totally not as pathetic, arrogant, lowly and despicable as taking over another god's shrine by force." She then walked back into the shrine, sliding the door behind her.

"Ehehe…" Kanako's calm and composed demeanor quickly shattered under the sting of that remark. She let out a sheepish giggle. "She's still sensitive about that… But, yes. As an example to demonstrate on, I wouldn't be going to all the trouble of seizing the Moriya Shrine by not the friendliest means, if I could simply snap my fingers and build my own… and live with myself afterwards…"

"I think I get the picture." Aya copied Kanako's earlier sheepish expression, not sure how to feel about the whole situation. "Can your divine powers grant you the knowledge about the presence of other gods and goddesses?"

"Hmm…" a snakelike smile appeared on Kanako's lips as soon as the crow tengu made her humble request. "You know, Aya-san, it's not that I couldn't tell you where exactly to find the curse goddess, but… what would I get in return?"

"I… uh… could include you in the next issue of Bunbunmaru?"

Aya's rather predictable offer only elicited a chuckle out of the goddess of sky and rain. "I had something a little different in mind~. How about we made a deal?"

The goddess's gaze and tone made Aya slightly uncomfortable, to say the least. "Before you ask me to sign any contracts, I absolutely refuse…"

"No, silly young crow, all I want in return for telling you Kagiyama-san's whereabouts is a little bit of your faith."

"My… faith?"

"Yes, the proper way it should be offered to a god. I want you to pray at the shrine… You used to do that more often in the past."

"That's all? A simple prayer?"

"That's right." Kanako nodded. "A simple prayer."

Somewhat relieved, Aya giggled at her own embarrassment. "It's the least I can do. Let's do it."

"Go ahead and just step up to the shrine's offering box."

It felt a little awkward to be given praying instructions by the shrine's very goddess, but Aya really tried to put her heart into it.

"Yes, that's it." Kanako kept guiding Aya like a 3-year old girl who visited a shrine for the first time. And Aya could tell the goddess was enjoying every second of it. "Pull on that big rope a few times to ring that bell… you know the drill."

The crow tengu was trying her best not to offend her, so she grabbed the rope hanging over the donation box and gave it a few good pulls, rattling the bell above.

As she was about to proceed with the prayer itself, the shrine's entrance slid open, and out poked the blonde-haired head of Suwako.

"Yeeeees~! You rang?"

She beamed at Aya with a sweet childlike smile, while the tengu only stared at her in emotionless confusion. Kanako also smiled as sweetly as she could back at the other goddess.

"Not funny, Suwako…"

And so, when Suwako pulled her head back in, Kanako resumed guiding her current shrine visitor to carry out a proper prayer. "Now where were we? Oh yes… Now clap your hands twice."

"Um… Yasaka-sama, with all due respect, I know how to pray at the shrines!" she finally snapped, obviously entertaining the goddess even more. "You said it yourself. I know the drill. Now how about you showed a little faith in me as well and let me concentrate?"

"Ufufufu… Sorry. I was just joking."

"…Not funny." Aya muttered Kanako's own quote from a moment ago, and proceeded to clap her hands twice.

"Uh-uh-uuh~." Kanako again wagged her index finger in an annoying way.

"What is it now?!"

"You forgot to present an offering." she pointed her finger at the box in front of Aya.

The youkai journalist let out almost a desperate laugh as she planted her palm against her forehead. "Ahaha… silly me. How could I forget?"

"I guess you do need my guidance after all."

Aya scraped a few coins out of her wallet and tossed them onto the barred lid of the donation box, watching them disappear as they made the typical rattling noise. She then repeated the clapping and made her silent prayer. Only Kanako felt like she hadn't teased her enough…

"You have to say it out loud."

The tengu opened her mouth in disbelief. "W-what? Now you're just making fun of me, aren't you? I've been to your shrine on a busier day before and I've never seen the visitors saying their prayers out loud."

"Indeed. And so many of them wonder why they got their prayers unanswered…"

"You're a goddess, for crying out loud! You can hear people's prayers even without them saying them out loud, so stop playing me for a fool!" Judging by her raised voice, Kanako deduced that Aya had just about enough of her nonsense.

"Alright…" the goddess shrugged and turned on her heel. "I guess you don't want to know where Hina is. Or if she really has a shrine…"

Somehow, Aya even suspected that Kanako knew the answer to both of these questions, she was just being a jerk.

"Alright!" Aya yelled out and breathed a heavy sigh. "I'll say it out loud."

Kanako's smile returned to her face. She turned back towards Aya and waited her to keep her word.

"I wish to know where to find the curse goddess, Kagiyama Hina, and find out the truth behind the front page article of Kakashi Sprit News." she recited her prayer in an almost theatrical way. "There... I said it. Satisfied?" she flung her anticipating gaze back at Kanako.

"Is that your wish?"

"Yes."

"Then by my divine power and knowledge," Kakako raised her opened right hand and extended it towards Aya, "I grant you the information on the current location of the curse goddess…"

She then paused for a moment, with her eyes closed, as if she was trying to attune her 6th sense to pinpoint the other divine being. "Yes, she's in Gensokyo." she blurted out jestingly after opening her eyes.

With a deadpan face, Aya stared back for a few seconds. "…I want my money back."

"Juuuust kidding~. She's in a cave behind the waterfall. But who knows for how long? If you hurry, you may still find her there."

"Ugh… what is she doing in such a place?" Aya rolled her eyes at the notion of having to get soaked in order to reach the aforementioned cave.

"Why don't you ask her yourself?"

"You're right. But this better not be just another joke of yours."

"Only one way to find out~."

"…Thank you… I think… I should go now. My work for today is far from done."

"Good for you, Aya-san." said Sanae after being quiet for a while.

"Please come visit the shrine again sometime." Kanako bid her farewell with a clichéd shopkeeper line.

* * *

With the same speed as she jetted up to the mountain plateau, Aya now flew in the opposite direction. Following the waterfall was easy, and even though she wasn't looking forward to crossing that wall of falling water at some point, at least she didn't have to travel too far. She zipped past Momiji so fast, that to the white-wolf girl she looked like an unidentified, blurred mass that appeared in her field of vision for a split second.

It took no more than a few seconds to reach the foot of the mountain, where the massive waterfall roared like a continuous thunder.

Aya stared at the mighty waterfall with respect and a bit of dread reflected in her red eyes.

"Hina-san~!" she yelled from the top of her lungs, but the waterfall's noise was so loud, that she barely heard her own voice. "Are you there~?"

As expected, no response. There was no other way to find out if anyone was on the other side of the waterfall than to cross it. But the water's coldness and getting all her clothes wet was the least of Aya's worries. The sheer amount of water, rushing from such height was hitting the rocks with such a force, that it would flush the poor youkai journalist and drag her under the surface. If Hina was truly on the other side, then it was a mystery as to how she even got there. That's when Aya got an idea. She reached for her inseparable tool and fashion accessory – the hauchiwa fan, and stared at it for a few seconds, as if considering if her idea would even work. After a shrug, she figured that she should at least give it a try.

"It's the force of one element against another…" she gave the fan a good hard swing, whipping up an impressive whirlwind. It sprayed water all over the place, but it also managed to slightly change the angle of the waterfall, which enabled Aya to dart through to the dark crevice, which was otherwise completely obscured by the rushing water.

"Hahaha! I made it! What won't I do just to get my hands on a scoop…?"

* * *

As she took a better look of her surroundings, faintly lit by the fading daylight seeping through the waterfall, she saw that the cave led deeper into the mountain. While she had known about the cave's existence, she never really explored it before, so she had no idea how large it was. There was no sign of Hina where she was standing, so logic dictated Aya to follow the tunnel. The only problem was, that Aya had no portable light source.

"Helooooo~!" she tried calling out into the tunnel to get a response, but all she got was her own reverberating voice calling back from the depths of the darkness.

"It wouldn't surprise me if this cave led all the way to the Palace of the Earth Spirits… I am NOT going down there… Unless…"

The tengu reached for her camera and flipped its flash on. As she took a shot, she could see the whole cave perfectly illuminated, though just for a fleeting moment. She noticed something on the ground that the lack of natural light didn't allow her to see otherwise. One more flash, and she could identify a pile of small objects.

"What was that…?"

The light of the camera flash lasted frustratingly short, but this time Aya recognized the objects bearing humanoid shapes.

"Are these what I think they are?"

As it turned out, the objects weren't just lying there in a disorganized pile, but in neat rows. They were dolls and effigies of various shapes, sizes and materials. There must have been hundreds of them.

"The fabled Nagahsi-bina army!" Aya excitedly snapped another shot. "Is this where the curse goddess lives?"

She knew that the answer to that question likely wouldn't come after her anytime soon, and like the proud investigative reporter that she was, she decided to venture further into the cave, one camera flash at a time.


	3. Fortune in Misfortune

Chapter 3 – Fortune in Misfortune

Aya proceeded with caution, but with each step and snap of her camera flash, she was beginning to feel less and less convinced that coming down here was a good idea. That feeling reached its pinnacle the moment when pushing the shutter only gave out a faint click, with no flash effect.

"W-wha? No way… You're gonna die on me now?!" she desperately tapped the button in quick succession to no avail. "Waaaah~! I'm stranded!"

Panic overtook her mind. She blindly searched for the tunnel's wall. Her palm touched the cold, hard and moist rocky surface.

"Okay, I'm going to make it just fine." she whispered to herself to calm herself down. "Damn. I knew I should have brought a lantern with me."

Even more slowly and carefully as she was descending the tunnel, she began her desperate return to the waterfall cavern. She could hear the echoes of its roar resonating within the underground passage.

She kept tracing the wall with her hand as she navigated through the pitch-black darkness. She vaguely remembered the tunnel's twists and turns from what little she was able to illuminate with her camera. Despite the numerous obstacles, slight uphill coasting and the small underground river that flowed through the middle of the cave, Aya was sure she'd have no problem finding her way back.

However, the terrain eventually betrayed her footing. "Yaaah~!" Aya let out a panicked yelp, as her most inappropriate footwear slipped, making her lose her balance.

As an instinctive reflex of self-preservation, the tengu girl took flight in order to stop her fall, but in that treacherous cramped space with complete absence of light, her amazing flight speed conspired against her.

A stunning impact into her forehead arched her spine backwards, and before she even realized what happened, she was sliding down the underground stream deeper into the abyss.

"Ayayayaaaaaa~!"

Many cuts, bruises and lacerations marked her body on her way down this painful water slide. Only the water's icy temperature helped her somewhat numb the pain. She held onto her camera with both hands, as if even this situation wasn't worthy of casting it aside and protecting her head from further injury.

She didn't even count how much time had passed before she finally stopped. With a pained groan, she rolled over from her side to her back. Instead of darkness, her eyes were now blinded by a ray of light shining from above. Even as she closed them, the light seeping through her eyelids made her wince. She didn't have any strength to move, so she just turned her face away from the light. It suddenly felt so oddly comfortable to just lay there without motion, without care… She passed out.

* * *

"Oh, my! Looks like someone was very unfortunate today. Just lay still. Everything will be alright…"

She didn't know how long she'd been there. All she knew was that when she came back to her senses and tried to look into the light, she saw a figure, gracefully floating above her, bathed in the light. Beautiful, elegant, otherworldly. Her turquoise hair, tied in a front-side ponytail, was adorned by a beautiful red ribbon, lined with white frills. Her burgundy dress, gradually paling into a lighter shade from her hips downward, gently swayed in the breeze. And in contrast to its hue, a large aquamarine swirl, reminiscent of the character for "misfortune", was sewn to the left side of the skirt, almost as if glowing.

"Ungh…" Aya tried to use her hand to shield her sight from the light that her eyes haven't yet adjusted to. She could feel every bone in her body, making even her slightest movements agonizing. "Am… am I dead?" she moaned out a question, as the sight of the floating figure in light kind of gave her the impression of having crossed over to the world beyond.

"No." the voice of the floating female answered. Aya found it very familiar, but in her current state, she wouldn't even be able to recall her own name.

"You were knocked unconscious after falling into my cave." the mysterious girl refreshed her memory.

"Ow…" the tengu reporter rubbed her forehead. "Oh, yeah. I do recall something like that… Wait… did you just say "your cave"?"

"Ah, that's right." the other girl paused herself, as if lost in thought. "I haven't yet had the honor of welcoming you to my humble abode. But for your sake, it would be better if you'd stay away from this place next time, Aya-san."

Aya's concussed head perked up upon hearing her name. "Eh? You… know me?"

"I'm sorry. It must have been quite the fall for you to be so confused… Your fortune in misfortune is that you didn't end up any worse. And that you are a youkai…" As she spoke, the girl in red dress began to slowly descend down while elegantly spinning in midair like a ballerina.

"Huh? Hina-san? Is that you?"

The girl's feet touched the surface of the shallow pool on the bottom of the cave, sending gentle ripples all around her. Even when she didn't have to walk, her footwear was still more suitable for spelunking than Aya's tall geta. A nice pair of knee-high, cross-laced boots could be seen from underneath the girl's skirt.

She giggled faintly and smiled. "There might be hope for your recovery yet. Your head sure seems to be making progress."

An elegant cue to let Aya know that she guessed correctly. Or to be precise, that she shook off her short-term amnesia and remembered correctly. Finally, after the literally painstaking journey all around Gensokyo, she had found the one she was looking for - the goddess of curses and misfortune, Hina Kagiyama.

When her blurry vision became slightly more adjusted to the sharp contrast of the cave's darkness and the light coming from the hole in the ceiling, Aya's first reaction was not to check the state of her injuries, but whether her camera was intact. With a sigh of relief she confirmed no harm befell it during the fall.

"Thank goodness the camera's okay."

Hina found Aya's attachment to her tool slightly hard to understand, but she still sympathized with her. "You should be more worried about yourself than your belongings."

"A broken body can heal its wounds, but a broken tool won't regrow."

"A destroyed tool can be replaced; a destroyed life, not so much." Hina countered Aya's wisdom with her own.

"Not every tool is as easy to replace as you'd think… Ouch!" Aya tried sitting up, when a sharp pain shot up in her lower back. "Damn. To think that I'd mess myself up so much… And it wasn't even a danmaku battle." She fell again on her back, making a small splash in the shallow pool of water she was lying in.

"You need to rest. The pain will go away eventually, as your body begins to regenerate."

"But I'm getting cold."

The goddess approached her slowly. "Let's get you out of the water. I'll need your cooperation."

And so, to the count of three, with their efforts combined, the curse goddess pulled Aya up on her feet and helped her walk out of that small subterranean lake and seated her on some relatively dry ground, near the cavern's wall.

* * *

"I'm afraid I can do little to heal you," Hina said apologetically, "but knowing you, your wounds will surely all close up within an hour or so."

"I appreciate the help anyway, Hina-san."

Aya took some time to observe her body and all the damage she sustained. It didn't look pretty, but for a tengu like her, this wasn't that serious either. Her completely soaked and torn-up clothes were a bigger concern to her than all the cuts and bruises.

"Heh… It was about time I bought some new outfit anyway."

Hina stood there with her, but she kept some distance. Aya didn't take long to notice the concern in her deep-green eyes.

"Pardon me for asking," the goddess spoke up after a moment, "but how did you end up falling down here? Did you not notice the warning sign near the hole? You said you weren't in a danmaku battle… so what happened exactly?"

Aya knew that Hina had nothing to be apologizing for. After all, it was she who had fallen into her humble abode, as she called it. The goddess had every right to know how this uninvited visitor ended up lying unconscious in this barely accessible place.

"I… I was looking for you, Hina-san."

The young deity was genuinely surprised by her response. "For me?" she made a hand gesture at her own chest. It wasn't every day someone was specifically seeking her company.

"Yes, you. I wanted to do an interview… about your shrine, you see…"

"My… what?" Hina's face changed from surprised to puzzled in a second.

Aya let out an amused, albeit pained chuckle. "Just as I suspected… It was a lie all along."

"What was?"

"You were never interviewed by Hatate in the recent days, were you? The whole article about your new shrine was just a made-up story to increase Kakashi Spirit News' popularity."

Hina stood there in silence for a while before responding.

"Is that what she wrote? Though I can't imagine who would erect a shrine to a goddess of curses and misfortune, you aren't exactly correct that Hatate-san never interviewed me."

"Oh?" the tengu girl titled her head. "So she had a talk with you? Then what was it about, if the shrine is obviously a hoax?"

"Well… That's… confidential." Hina reconsidered answering Aya's question in the last moment. Needless to say, that didn't help to lift Aya's suspicion of her journalist rival.

"What's her game? To discredit me? But then why make up a blatant lie that I could so easily expose and use against her?" The more she thought about it, the less sense it made. "Is she really that desperate?"

"I'm afraid only she herself can answer you all those questions." the goddess's glance reflected a faint trace of guilt.

"N-no d-doubt…"Aya stuttered out, as her teeth started jittering from the cold she was subjected to. "I guess I should at least c-confront her b-before I b-bring her newspaper t-to ruin."

"Please don't be too harsh on Hatate-san. Even if she's your rival."

Hina's pleading request caught Aya by surprise. "After all the mess I got into because of her? I don't see why I shouldn't be." the anger rising up in her chest even helped her get rid of the tremble in her voice. "Or are you perhaps in cahoots with her? You and that mountain goddess… She acted like she knew something all along." Already, her slightly paranoid mind was brewing up conspiracy theories.

"I'm not in cahoots with anyone." a double headshake from the curse goddess was meant to emphasize the truthfulness of her denial.

"Then why aren't you willing to tell me what she interviewed you for?"

"I simply don't wish to discuss the subject. I already regret sharing it with Hatate-san. Though she did give me her word that she wouldn't publish it."

"And you believed her? Ha! That's like if Marisa Kirisame promised never to commit a single act of theft ever again."

"Well, she sounded sincere about it."

"Sounded sincere…" Aya had a hard time holding back a chuckle. "She's a crow tengu! The moment we learn anything interesting, you can bet your behind that it will be in the paper on the next day. I didn't think you were that naïve, Hina-san…"

"Allow me to clarify." Hina smiled. "I asked her kindly not to publish the content of our conversation, knowing full-well the gossip-loving nature of her kind. I'm still confident that she would keep her word."

"I wonder what gives you that much certainty."

"Let's just say that neither you, nor Hatate-san would truly like to get on a curse goddess's bad side."

After those words, Hina's lovely smile, suddenly took on a whole new meaning in Aya's eyes. She shuddered slightly, and it wasn't because she was cold.

"I guess I can see your point now… Hatate truly didn't publish anything that would make me think of as something that you wouldn't want to talk about. Unless you don't want to talk about having your own shrine…"

Hina covered her lips with her palm as she giggled. "It's not that I wouldn't be pleased to have my own shrine, Aya-san. It's just… that the prospect itself is so far-fetched that even someone as naïve as myself refuses to believe in its possibility. I can't imagine anyone sane building me a shrine anytime soon. I'm not a goddess reliant on faith, anyway. I live from the misfortune of others. I take it from the dolls people send down the river every year and re-sell the curse-free dolls at my little stand. But you already know that."

"I see." Aya nodded understandingly. "So you really live in this cave then? Like some animal? Not very goddess-like…"

"It's not much, I know. But it's a home, nonetheless. Also, you won't find any animals living down here. No bats or even fairies. Every sentient being fled from the curses that permeate the cave's walls - a result of my prolonged presence."

"Yeah, now that you mention it, I did find it a little odd when I entered the cave."

"Entered? Wait a minute, so you didn't fall through that hole above us?" Hina pointed at the only source of light in this otherwise pitch-dark cavern.

"Huh? No, I got in through the waterfall. I saw a bunch of nagashi-bina dolls and decided to follow the cave further. But then I slipped and hit my head and… ended up here."

"Through the waterfall?" Hina's tone suddenly became rather concerned, which slightly unsettled the tengu journalist. "You were in the cleansing chamber? Oh my…"

Aya got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She felt as if she had desecrated a temple and was about to face a divine retribution.

"Cleansing chamber?"

"The water cleanses and purifies. The waterfall washes away the leftover curses attached to the nagashi-bina dolls so that I can recycle them and sell them again. It also serves as a natural barrier preventing the curses from escaping this cave. If you were in the cave behind the waterfall then there is no time to lose!"

"W-what do you mean, Hina-san?" Aya worriedly blinked her red eyes.

"Your slip and fall was no coincidence. You've been exposed to the accumulated curses of hundreds of uncleansed nagashi-bina dolls. I have to take your misfortune away right now, for a fatal accident could befall you any second!"

"F-fatal?!"

"Don't worry. I'll drain it all away from you."

How could Aya say no to such a tempting offer? With a nod of her head, she gave Hina the permission to do her work and rid her of the potentially deadly curse hanging over her.

"I was about to do it anyway, as simply being in this cave isn't exactly good for your luck, but I was going to wait until you'd regain the strength to fly. However, for your safety's sake, I think I shouldn't delay."

"Thanks…. And I feel a bit better already." Most of the tengu's visible wounds were almost gone.

"Okay hold still now. This won't hurt a bit."

* * *

Hina extended her open hands towards her. A dark-red light appeared between her palms, appearing as though it was shrouded in a dark mist. Aya soon realized that the "mist" was actually coming from her, being slowly swallowed by the light. Hina kept making gentle hand movements, as if pulling something towards her. After a moment, she suddenly spread her arms sideways and began to slowly spin while hovering. She spun faster and faster, and all the dark mist was being sucked by her dance. Eventually her spin cycle slowed down. By then Aya could see no more signs of any mist. When Hina stopped, she cupped her hands together and then pulled them towards her chest.

"It is done." she gave Aya a warm, reassuring smile. "All your misfortune has been taken away, including that which you already had on you before entering my home. I must say, that was quite a hearty meal…"

"Wow… I feel… Amazing!" the reporter slowly stood up. Yes she was still bruised, her clothes were still soaked and torn-up, and her legs still shook when she was standing, but a feeling of utmost inner peace and happiness overwhelmed her senses. She couldn't hold back a smile. It was such a wonderful feeling, as if nothing in the world could go wrong.

"Thank you, Hina-san! Thank you…" she bowed to the goddess repeatedly. Until now, she had only heard about the effects of her powers. Now, she had her first real experience of having her misfortune drained.

"You're welcome." the charming deity winked. "But remember, having your misfortune taken away doesn't mean you'll become lucky. It simply means that bad luck should avoid you. For a time…"

"I'm still grateful for your help. And I really am starting to think that building a shrine for you wouldn't be such a far-fetched idea after all."

Hina let out another giggle. "I'm not going to hold my breath until it becomes a reality, but I'm pleased that you think so."

Aya gazed up into the fading ray of light. "I should get going now." By the looks of it, the sun had almost set.

"Are you going to meet Hatate-san?"

"Yes. The two of us need to have a talk."

"I hope all goes well… for both of you."

"That depends on her response. Once again, thank you for taking my bad luck away. Goodbye." After their last parting bow, the crow tengu took a deep breath and took off, leaving the cave through the hole in the ceiling.

* * *

Once she was up above ground level again, she noticed a warning sign posted near the hole. It took her a while to gather her bearings. Even after living in Gensokyo for as long as a millennium, Aya couldn't have known every square centimeter of the area around the Youkai Mountain. This was one of those places. Shrouded in dense underbrush and tall trees, even the warning sign was rather hard to spot. It was far from any roads or trails that Aya knew of, so it was unlikely for anyone who knew where they were going to stumble upon the crevice. She knew that the forests around her mountain still held many secrets. That was part of the reason why she found Hatate's article at least slightly believable. Now, armed with new information, however, she wasn't going let her rival get away with spreading falsehood. Not without a proper explanation.


End file.
